On that note...

Alright, so tomorrow around 3 or 4-ish I am heading to Javabomberman’s house to jam. It didn’t work out last Wednesday because I had just missed him coming home from work. Either way, let the music begin tomorrow. At Java’s apartment last Saturday, we met some random guy from the 4th floor that plays bass. He said anytime we could go knock on his door and jam. We might just have to take him up on his offer. Java can play bass and drums well, but obviously not at the same time.

Like I had said, I only have one song completely written. I do, however, have a bunch of riffs and ideas I would like to try with a set of drums or a bass backing me up (or me backing them up). I have my one song recorded but not well. The song isn’t the best. It was really just an attempt to see if I could even write my own music. So, the recording went along those same lines. On my laptop, using its built-in mic, I just wanted to see if I could record it. I did it before I moved from my old apartment. I had just finished the song and the vocals were still a little shaky. The whole thing was kind of testing the waters. Once I have it recorded all right, I will post it here.

Also, I will be writing more songs. Especially since I will be playing music with more than myself from now on.

Begins...

Ok people, let's talk Batman. My favorite "super"-hero of all time. I love all but one of the movies, and watched the animated series religiously. Also, I still have all my favorite Batman comics. But nothing prepared me for what the newest Batman movie, Batman Begins, could bring onto the screen.

First, let's discuss the old movies. Batman, by Tim Burton, is just classic. The sequel, Batman Returns also by Tim Burton, was not quite as good, but still well made. Batman Forever was very well done, had cooler gadgets, and introduced Robin. Finally, the last of the bunch, I don't even remember what it was called, featured Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. That was a complete joke of a movie. Most of these movies had great fight scenes and good acting. All the movies, however, assumed that you knew many things about the comic book series and all of it's characters.

Enter Batman Begins. This movie had *GASP* character development? What? An american movie where characters are people?!?! What? Story without neat graphics to carry the whole movie? Maybe I'm a Batman fan-boy, but this movie rocks hard. I loved every second and I AM going to see this movie again. Maybe its my complex with wanting to be a hero. Maybe its that it was father's day and the movie's father/son relationship was a focus. Whatever it was, I felt this movie.

Bottom line, go see this movie. Damn good.

Role-play go!

I have begun Role-playing on a Yahoo! group. Its a Zelda role-playing group and seems like a lot of fun. I used to be in a different Zelda RPG on the same site, but that was awhile ago. I always find group RPGs interesting considering there aren't any stats and there is no dice rolling. Its all story-driven and there is no GM. I find them fun and entertaining as well as a great exercise in creativity and writing. You can find the group at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/zelda_OoT_rpg/, my character's name is Kai.

Gods...

Although I am unsure if this list is to be added to in the future, these are the main gods of my world. Just thought I would throw in some info of my D&D world.

The Great Dragon (Greater Deity)
Bahamut
God of Dragons
• Gender: Male
• Symbol: The silhouette of a dragon in silver from a top view with its wings open.
• Alignment: Lawful Good
• Portfolio: Good dragons, good, law, protection.
• Domains: Dragon, Good, Law, Protection.
• Favored Weapon: Pick (claw).
• Dogma: Evil shall not be tolerated in any form. Take care of those in hard times. Respect the Dragons, for their form is the true form. Recognize the inherent laws of the world.

The Three Sisters (Greater Deities)
Anu
Sun Goddess
• Gender: Female
• Symbol: Round golden disk with a beautiful woman’s face carved into it.
• Alignment: Neutral Good
• Portfolio: Good, life, birth, protection.
• Domains: Good, Healing, Protection, Sun.
• Favored Weapon: Longsword. “Only the sword can truly reflect the Sun’s rays.”
• Dogma: Protect those weaker than you. Do not allow injustice. Do not judge others, for it is not a mortal’s place. Bring the Sun’s rays to all corners of the world where shadows lurk.
• Other Names: The Great Mother. Holy Mother. Bright Mother. Bright One.

Mania
Goddess of Death
• Gender: Female
• Symbol: Flaming bat.
• Alignment: Neutral Evil
• Portfolio: Evil, death, decay, undeath.
• Domains: Darkness, Death, Destruction, Evil.
• Favored Weapon: Sickle. “Reap the people their freedom of death.”
• Dogma: All living creatures will taste the blade of my sickle, and I shall taste their soul. Death is the only true freedom.
• Other Names: Eater of Souls. Grim Reaper. Flesh Reaper.

Freya
Goddess of Magic
• Gender: Female
• Symbol: A patient owl.
• Alignment: Neutral
• Portfolio: Magic, balance, knowledge, observation.
• Domains: Knowledge, Magic, Rune, Trickery.
• Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff. “Do not overlook that which is plain. Wait for it to show its true form.”
• Dogma: Magic is the true power of the world. Only balance can bring true knowledge and only objective observation can bring balance.
• Other Names: The Patient Owl, Mistress of Magic.

Creation (Greater Deity)
Aegis
God of the Elements
• Gender: None
• Symbol: A ring of four flames, one white, one brown, one red, one blue.
• Alignment: Lawful Neutral
• Portfolio: Air, earth, fire, water.
• Domains: Air, Earth, Fire, Water.
• Favored Weapon: None
• Dogma: Do not defile the laws and forms of creation.
• Other Names: Gaia, Lord of Elements.

The 5 Children (Intermediate Deities)
Jukab
Lord of Artifice
• Gender: Male
• Child of: Freya
• Symbol: A grey cog.
• Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
• Portfolio: Artifice, invention.
• Domains: Artifice, Creation, Knowledge.
• Favored Weapon: Hammer
• Dogma: Only artifice and technology can create change. One can judge one life’s worth by how much one has created.
• Other Names: Wonderbringer, The Giver, The Creator.

Rhya
Goddess of Nature
• Gender: Female
• Child of: Anu
• Symbol: A green silhouette of a tree.
• Alignment: Chaotic Good
• Portfolio: Plants, animals.
• Domains: Animal, Healing, Plant.
• Favored Weapon: Spear
• Dogma: Do not discard the power of nature. It is the only law that can be found in chaos.
• Other Names: The Den Mother, The Green Mistress, The Forest Keeper.

Tyr
God of War
• Gender: Male
• Child of: Mania
• Symbol: Red-eyed raven.
• Alignment: Chaotic Evil
• Portfolio: War, battlefields.
• Domains: War, Death, Destruction.
• Favored Weapon: Axe
• Dogma: All that is right or wrong can be solved by war. War is the ultimate equalizer.
• Other Names: The Warmonger, The Great Battleaxe.

Opi
God of Travelers
• Gender: Male
• Child of: Anu
• Symbol: Walking boots.
• Alignment: Chaotic Good
• Portfolio: Travel, roads.
• Domains: Luck, Travel, Protection.
• Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff (walking stick)
• Dogma: One will see nothing unless they free themselves on the open road. Experience comes to those who travel some form of path. Every person has his or her own path in life.
• Other Names: The Path-Maker, The Great Grandfather.

Sky
Goddess of Weather
• Gender: Female
• Child of: Aegis
• Symbol: Lightning Bolt with a storm cloud in the background.
• Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
• Portfolio: Weather, temperature.
• Domains: Weather, Air, Water.
• Favored Weapon: Javelin
• Dogma: If you try to oppose the Weather, you oppose the power of earth itself. The Weather has her own way.
• Other Names: The Almighty Hurricane. The Great Eye of the Storm.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow is father's day. Dad is coming down to see Batman Begins with me. We have seen every Batman movie together (yes even the bad ones) and I thought it would be cool to keep the tradition. The movie, in my opinion, looks great, and I am excited to see it.

On another note, a good friend of mine, Javabomberman, has moved back near me. Its nice to have him back and we might be able to finally put together a make-shift band. I even tossed the idea of an open mic night or something around. We will see. I only have one full song written, but I am eager to write more. It is quite refreshing getting the thoughts on paper and for once I can say that the work actually produced something. Come on, let's face it, hours on end of videogames just gives me red eyes. One of the main reasons this "band" excites me is, even though I love to play my guitar, it was one of THE best experiences of my life to play with drums and other instruments. The fun just multiplied, and I could feel myself slipping into the "flow" or the "zone" some might say. Either way, its going to be good.

WHAT!?!?!?

Snake MGS2

That's right boys and girls, Snake is back. After a prequel to put off the inevitable, Konami, even though Kojima swore off the series, is going to release the 4th installment of Metal Gear Solid. The game takes place after the 2nd and will give answers to questions left at the end (finally!). I can't wait. If you would like to see the trailer, head to this web site.

Description...

I was watching Hero again last night, one of my
favorite movies, and mulling over the gorgeous scenes
in my head and how to describe them if I were running
a role-playing game. Basically, I was exercising my
description. As I'm watching, I realized something:
the way I would describe those scenes, if running,
would be a whole lot of work and would take a long
time. I began to think. How could I cut down on my
descriptions and make them more exciting? I thought
back to my high-school days in creative writing. Cut
everything down to the bones. Ok, but I can only do so
much in a medium where I can't go back and correct
what I said and refine it. That won't work. Then I
thought about most books and writings. Finally, I knew
what I was doing wrong. I never make use of the most
powerful descriptive tools, similes and metaphors.
There is a reason these are used in writing, and I
think if I can master these ideas, my descriptions
will be more real, and I will be able to describe more quickly.

Also, something else that will help, I have been
talking to my friend Cobalt about running (he is my
mentor after all) and I have been realizing that a
story is made up of the interactions of people and
that is what the focus of running should be. I should
run interesting NPCs and interactions with people.

I think these new ideas will help greatly and I am
excited to run my next game to try them out.

Link updates...

I have put 3 more links on my blog that I think people
should check out. The first one, Groven Myth, is a
blog outlining the game that I played Ashitaka in. It
should be very good and well written as most stuff by
Cobalt is.

The second is another good friend who LOVES anime. Hey
is a good guy and can usually make one laugh until one
falls to the floor convulsing.

The third one is a friend of mine who goes way back.
He has always been sort of a rebel and has shared my
dreams in getting onto a SWAT team. He is a good man
and would take a bullet for me just the same way I
would for him. Mike, I hope its you who is next to me
when we bust that door down.

If you would like some more entertainment value past
my measly attempts, check these guys out. They have
always been my friends no matter what. I at least owe
it to them.

So what happened...

I ran the my game tonight. I did chastise each
character accordingly, but between themselves, it
started to get heated again, so I told them just to be
more careful essentially. Then, the Warforged player
made a new dwarven druid. He is chaotic neutral. More
ripples in the water. Just what I need. ;)

The 8 Towers...

So, I know I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but my
D&D campaign, The 8 Towers, is going relatively well.
Granted all the characters are still 1st level, but
all in all, I have gotten the plot started and things
seem on track for the most part.

The characters are in the country of Quar in the city
of Gyda. Quar is a country whose military strength has
brought it independence and land, and its prosperity
springs from its huge quarries and mines. It has a
large wall surrounding the entire country much like
the Great Wall of China except that it is round and
connected. This wall was created by Iso, a neighboring
city-state that made the wall in thanks and as payment
for the raw materials needed for its technologies.

Quar'�s military strength extends from the use of
Battletitan cavalry units. Battletitans are pretty
much slightly larger raptors. Quar has many
Battletitan ranches in its cities, and the second
largest of these cities is Gyda. Gyda is a quiet town
that offers the second most Battletitans for use in
the military in the country.

In Gyda last session, the players had some inter-party
conflict. Its tough having two paladins in a party,
especially if one of them is an exalted paladin. After
looting some major magic items that had been stolen,
the party finds out whom they belong to. Immediately
the paladins, as they should being Lawful Good and
all, demand that they return the items. The party's
Warforged (living construct) artificer, who knows
nothing but how to be efficient, demands they use the
items to finish out the quest so more items don't get
stolen, then return them. The three of them started
arguing as to what they should do. The other party
members didn�t say much. The role-playing was
excellent until the exalted paladin, and shortly
thereafter, the other paladin drew their swords and
attacked the Warforged. Now, granted the Warforged
said that the exalted paladin�s god had nothing to do
with the situation that, I guess, could be considered
an insult, but I don�t see a Lawful Good character
attacking someone just because they insulted someone.
Needless to say, there was a battle and the Warforged
was put to the ground. The Items were then returned to
their rightful owner immediately. That is where the
session left off.

Tomorrow, I have to run this game and I have yet to
decide what to do. I have a few options.

1. Do it video game style and rewind and do it again.
2. Tell the Warforged player to make a new character.
3. Let the Warforged wake up and see where things go.

I never like to do 1 because this is not a videogame.
3 is risky and could make things worse. So I think I
will be doing 2. Either way, all three characters are
going to be chastised about the whole situation.
Should be interesting.